A Monkey in the Trees
It had been several months since the young woman broke ties with her village, believing its resources incapable of satisfying her need for knowledge. Despite being troubled by having to leave her family behind, she ultimately knew it was in her best interest that left. Had she remained...well she may have died of boredom. As of now, she ran uninhibited through the forests of the Land of Fire, effortlessly switching from the forest floor to mounting tree branches. She marveled at how wonderful it felt to be able to not just walk, but run once more, all the while watching the world pass by in a blur. Many would confuse her immense speed for the oft used Body Flicker, they would be surprised to realize that it was actually within her natural capabilities rather than some ninjutsu. Such was the consequence of a lightning induced paralysis that had befallen her so long ago. Kurumi put such thoughts out of her mind however; her goal ultimate goal was the village of Konoha, namely their archives. Everything else, including her own personal enjoyment could wait for later. Despite this focus, part of her mind wandered back to the messy seen with Kumogakure anbu not too far away from the Lightning's border. I wonder if they've found out yet that the group is MIA, Kuru thought as she automatically sought the foothold of another tree branch while leaving another. As one of her intellect had done, she had taken care to disguise the situation, namely the shinobi's remains after the conflict. But that wouldn't prevent people from wondering about their absence. On the other end, was a carefree Monkey who pranced throughout the trees as if it were the most instinctive action he could take. Within the depths of this greenery, he stood out as the only bearer of red and brown. That is, until another figure passed through his line of sight. A womanly visage, with brown hair flowing in the wind that passed by. The leaves that erupted from the wake of her movement excited Haigatake; he was going to be able to play! As such, without a second thought, he leaped after her, his steps refusing to even make an inkling of sound as he suddenly appeared only a few steps behind her. "Heyyyy! You! You're running around in Haigatake's forests! Does that mean you wanna play with me? I've been bored and my friend is too busy to come and play. Please?!" Haigatake's feet kept silently tapping across the branches as he exclaimed to the newfound guest of the forest, clearly causing an unwanted disturbance. As Kurumi flew in the direction of the village she heard a voice behind her, one that came closer and closer to her back before being nearly side by side. As is, the sudden spoken words caused the girl's footsteps to falter and she nearly tripped before catching herself. "Haigatake? That's the name of these forests?" Kurumi asked in response before coming to a screeching halt, the blow back from her sudden stop causing the path in front of her to temporarily clear. She saw the owner of the following voice was a young man of red and brown clothing who nimbly shot by her, most likely unaware of her sudden stopping. "What do you mean by play? Don't you have things to attend to?" Kurumi asked, completely confused by the question. As a woman of intellect and scholarly activities, the word play clearly didn't fall in her vocabulary. In all honesty, her idea of fun involved various trips to the library when she was younger, as it proved to be an enjoyable yet productive pastime. Now that she had stopped, she wondered actively how the young man had been able to maintain such silence coupled with such peerless chase down speed. "How were you capable of doing that? That running so fast and so quietly?" Kurumi asked, gesturing to the way they came. She recognized this as a possible teaching moment. "Nooo, my name is Haigatake!" Haigatake said, stopping almost instantaneously as his target stopped in front of him. "But nobody else plays in the forests, so now the forests are mine! Or, well...I think so?" Haigatake scratched his head, thinking about what he just said. "Other things? But all I do is play! At least, that's what Old Man Egaku told me when I came out of the Monkey Mountain. Now that I can't find my way back...I'm stuck here playing, hehe." Haigatake chuckled, before noting Kurumi's inquiry into his movement. "Hm? Oh, it's because the Monkeys taught me! But...I don't really remember how I know it...it kinda just comes naturally to me. Look, I'll show you!" Haigatake smiled in glee as he jumped on the branch with, what appeared to be, full force; but nothing happened. He even began to jump across branches within his proximity, but every single impact failed to utter even a sound; yes, not even a single leaf or twitch. "See, it's that simple!" Kurumi remained astounded by his carefree demeanor; at least she knew that the young man's name was Haigatake. "How can you not have other objectives to complete?" Kurumi pondered aloud shaking her head. Then again, she realized that she was now in the same boat, considering she was no longer a part of Kumo. Put simply, she had a lot of time on her hands to devote to her personal object of fascination; the archives. She was only further impressed when Haigatake displayed his attuned silence, easily maintaining the same level of quiet despite the force applied. As he stated, it seemed to come naturally to him, without any conscious effort or concern. To be honest, it sounded quite useful to Kurumi, as she slowly memorized the steps that Haigatake had used. Out of curiosity, Kurumi tried it as well, only to admit a sound as she copied his steps. However, not all was lost, as she could tell the difference between the ruckus she had created earlier and the muted sound that she made now. With time she could possibly emulate his silent footfalls. "That's amazing," Kurumi said while grinning. She then paused on a tree branch across from Haiga, her face serious once more. "What does playing mean though?" She still was confused on this issue. "Ooooh, you're not half bad..." Haigatake commented, smiling in glee as he did so. "Well...other objectives? I mean, um, I wasn't given anything to do when I came here..." Haigatake pouted as he said so, wrapping his legs around the branch and then flipping upside down. He definitely didn't think about what he was doing prior to arriving in these forests. He simply upped and landed here one day, and flew like a leaf in the wind; of course his flight didn't take him very far. "Playing means...we have to try and catch each other among the trees! We could play tag, hide and seek, anything you want! Come on, please say yes?" Kurumi paused to consider; while she wanted to reach Konoha as soon as possible in order to maximize her potential time with the archives, she found Haiga's abilities intriguing if not valuable. She knew it was something that could be improved with practice, and considering that the person who showed it to her was none other than Haiga himself, she figured such practice would be best well spent with him. From his expressions and statement, Kurumi concluded that Haiga was a free spirit, at least at this time. That settled one portion of her confusion, though his answer for the definition of playing slightly irritated her. "That's what playing means? That so...childish," Kurumi sighed exasperatedly, "fine, I'll play, seeing as nothing has come up at the moment. Let's start with tag, though you're it first." A smirk appeared on her face as she turned tail and flew further into the forest's reaches. She let a laugh of exhilaration as she easily navigated the floor. "Catch me if you can!" Kuru called back as she continued running. "Yaaay!" Haigatake exclaimed as Kurumi started running in front of him. Without another sound, Haigatake propelled off of the tree branch and almost instantly appeared to the other. He crossed multiple trees as if he were riding the wind, managing to stay on equal footing with Kurumi despite her supposed advantage. As soon as he reached Kurumi's flank at her left, Haigatake's arm seemed to snap forward without any prior preparation, reaching towards Kurumi's left arm with such speed that one could easily mistake this game of tag for a powerful assault against the woman. The only thing that warned Kurumi that Haiga had begun to give chase was his exclamation of excitement. From there, her ears met silence, something which perturbed her slightly. His ability to easily make his way about without leaving a sound would be an issue, one that she had to figure out how to deal with soon. While she could feel his sudden presence on her left side, Kurumi didn't know if she could react in time. He's a fast individual, scarily so... Kurumi thought while exasperated. It was clear to her that there was much in this world left to learn; after all, some things could only be experienced first hand rather than being read in a book or archive. It was to her surprise when Haiga's hand connected with left arm, unbalancing her in her shock. She recovered with a flip, masterfully executing a one-handed hand stand before landing on her feet once more. "So these are what taijutsu masters are like..." Kurumi pondered aloud, noting the finesse in Haiga's speed and strength as opposed to the brutal brand of taijutsu that most Kumogakure shinobi used back at home. "I guess I'm it now aren't I?" "Eyup!" Haigatake leaped in joy. But without even the rustle of the leaves, his body began to move across the treetops, following the wind as he did so. Without even a sound, he somersaulted forwards, backwards and even began dangling on the trees with a tail that he manifested unconsciously from his lower-back. He seemed to move further into the depths of the forest, unaware of whether Kurumi was even following him or not. "Did he just create a tail?" Kurumi pondered before shaking her head. Sure enough the tail remained as he dangled from a tree branch before continuing further into the forests. Is he a sage? Kurumi thought. Apparently this day would become more interesting after all, something that caused her to smile as she scaled at tree before resting on its branches. Satisfied, she began executing her speed by jumping from branch to branch, easily catching up the tumbling Kurumi. She had to admit that he was extraordinarily limber, something that made him difficult to catch even though she was able to match his speed. With a last minute burst, she concentrated all of her speed into a simple formula for momentum, letting it reach out at an immense pace until it had closed the gap to millimeters. She didn't make a sound as she placed every ounce of forward progress in her favor to make the tag. It was clear that Kurumi wasn't one to hold back in even such a game. "Ah!" Haigatake exclaimed as he noticed Kurumi reaching behind him. With time not working to his favor, Haigatake's fumbling attempts at evasion ended up in failure, with the tip of Kurumi's fingers narrowly reaching Haigatake's shoulders. "Ah, I screwed up!" Haigatake scratched his head. While he was definitely surprised that Kurumi managed to nearly mimic his movements, he didn't pay that much mind. His eyes gleamed with excitement, "Hey you caught up with me! That's so cool! Not even the Monkeys can keep up with me anymore...Do you mind if I go faster?!" Kurumi grinned at her achievement, having caught the evasive monkey. "Goodness your fast. Probably even more so then all the people back at home." Kurumi said, impressed that Haiga could embody such elusive speed without the use of some type of ninjutsu. When asked if he could open up further, Kuru raised an eyebrow in amazement. Though her curiosity proved to get the best of her. "That wasn't your top speed?" she asked, only laugh once more. Kuru wanted to push her limits anyways to see where it would take her. "Go for it, I'll see if I can keep up." Kuru continued, readying herself for another game of chase, while testing just how far her legs had come since that accident. Part of her could feel the landscape resonating with her, egging her on to greater heights while pushing her to awaken a dormant power. Though the woman remained ignorant to it's name. "Ready when you are." Category:Great's Play of Words